


Beginning of the End

by InsanityIsClarity



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Age Swap AU, Angst, Gen, Sibling Relationship, Varian whump, if you ship cassarian dont even come near me, if you ship new dream or cassunzel take your shipping goggles off for this one, variangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22931752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityIsClarity/pseuds/InsanityIsClarity
Summary: The lost princess is 14. The alchemist of Old Corona is 18.Rapunzel finds herself with yet another honorary older sibling. Varian finds himself in a competition he intends to win.(AU where Rapunzel and Varian are age-swapped, but everyone else is the same. This changes nothing, and this changes everything.)
Relationships: Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 95
Kudos: 105





	1. Varian Enters a Competition

**Author's Note:**

> I made an AU guys

The first time Varian meets the princess, he is enraptured. She’s alive, and her hair is so very long, and she’s _here,_ in his lab! He thinks he scares her, at first, and that makes him feel especially bad, since scaring kids is not something he ever _tries_ to do, but once his mask is off she seems to relax.

She’s brought along two friends, a twenty-something named Cassandra who doesn’t seem to like him very much, and _Flynn Rider,_ and Varian knows it’s not the “real” Flynn from the books, he’s not a kid, geez, but it’s definitely another person who’s read the books, which is more than exciting enough for him.

“So, can you or can you not tell us what is going on with her hair?” Cassandra asks, impatiently, and this _just figures._

“Man, you guys couldn’t have come, like, a week ago? I’ve had this huge machine just sitting in my lab for over four years, ready for the day I would need to analyze someone’s hair for some reason, but then just last week I finally decided it was time to tear it down. And you’re here now! _Of course_.”

“Seriously, kid?” Eugene squints, and sighs dramatically.

“Hey, I’m 18! Not a kid!” Varian protests, his change in volume causing the princess to flinch back and the other two to glare. Lowering his hands, he continues, “Well, it’s not that much of a problem. Doing all the tests manually might take a bit longer, but we’ll get the same results in the end, with the power of _alchemy!”_

Cassandra and Eugene look _unenthused_ , to say the least, but the princess’s eyes are practically gleaming, so he dives right into setting up the tests and explaining every single detail of them to her. 

He does his very best to run the tests as safely as possible, not being able to stomach the idea of putting the princess through any potential danger, and the tests go off without a hitch.

The test results, however, _make no sense whatsoever_ , a fact that definitely _doesn’t_ make him question his entire world view at all, but before he can get too frustrated, he sees Rapunzel’s still cheerful face.

“This was _so much fun!_ ” she exclaims. “Would you- will you show me some more alchemy sometime?” 

How could he refuse?

“Of course I can,” he assures, and then she runs outside to go check on the horses before they have to head back to the capitol.

The other two remain in his lab.

“If you do one thing that hurts her-” Cassandra starts, and even though she and Eugene have been sniping at each other this whole time, the ex-thief looks fully in her corner now.

“I won’t,” he promises. “How could I?” He smiles just thinking of her, the brightest and kindest person he’s ever met, by far.

“Just making sure,” Cassandra states, lips still curled downwards.

Eugene must see something in his face that makes the older man believe him more, because he relaxes. “Hey, Cassandra, you think we’re gonna have to cut this _mature adult_ in on our little game?”

“No-” Cassandra refutes.

“What game?” he asks, leaning forward.

“Cass _and_ ra and I have a little competition going on,” he smirks, “that I am currently winning.”

“What is it?” he questions again.

“We’re competing to see who can be the better ‘big sibling’ to Raps,” Cassandra intones, but the soft smile appearing on her face belies the true feelings behind the monotone.

He considers the concept of the game for only a moment. He smirks.

“Oh-ho-ho, bold of either of you to assume you can be a better sibling than I, Varian, master of alchemy!”

They laugh, and he clenches his fists in determination. He _will_ win this!

_Varian: 0 points._


	2. In Which Varian Gains and Becomes an Assistant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the science exposition has arrived!

The second time Varian meets Rapunzel, it’s the day of the annual science exposition. This will be his fourth time competing, and in each year prior something has gone horribly wrong with his presentation, costing him first place, but this year will be different. Because he has a plan! A very serious and detailed plan involving his whole day, a top secret location, an automaton assistant, and hot chocolate.

Rapunzel must see him walking from the castle, because as soon as he gets close, she’s there, running up to him with a grin on her face. She starts talking, so fast he can barely keep up, about the science fair and all the potential inventions she wants to try building for it, and  _ Can we work on our inventions together? What’s  _ your _ idea, Varian? _

He throws his previous plan out the window. _. _

\---

They spend the next few hours in the castle talking through Rapunzel’s ideas while she helps Varian work on his. Eugene and Cassandra watch them for the first half hour before they get too bored and go off to do other things. Neither Varian nor Rapunzel notice them leave.

“What if I made something that could cut food perfectly?”

“That’s already been invented, actually.” He rubs his neck and tries to smile gently.

“I could make a toy that’s kind of like a roll of thread on a string, but also not?”

“Umm, yo-yo’s already exist, Princess.”  _ Does she not know basic household items? _

“A safer way to chop vegetables?” She holds up the prototype she’s been working on, and he winces.

“That’s just a mini guill-oh hey! What’s that one?” He points towards a sketch of an invention the likes of which he’s never seen. 

“Oh, that’s just a design for a giant hair dryer I thought might be useful. I always wanted to build it back in the tower, but Mo-Gothel thought it was a silly idea, and how would I power it anyway?” He can see her rubbing her arm out of the corner of his eye.

“That sounds like a great idea, Rapunzel,” he assures, smiling at her. “All you’d really have to do is add a power source to it, and it seems like the perfect project for some equine power... You could just add a horse treadmill, and voila! I might have some actual competition for first place...”

He means every word; her idea is very impressive, and he has no doubt she could pull it off.

“Will you help me with it?” she asks, and as much as he wants to, he can still see the supplies he’s brought for his machine, most of them still disassembled in boxes. She must see his hesitancy, because she adds, “If you help me with mine, I’ll help you with yours! Oooh, we can be each other’s assistants!”

She looks so excited at the idea and Varian…

The first year Varian competed in the expo, he begged everyone he knew (and even some people he didn’t know) to be his assistant. His invention that year, like most of his inventions, had required two sets of eyes and hands to be run safely, but everyone he’d asked had either laughed at him or looked confused as to what he was even talking about. In the end, he’d presented it alone, which had gone… not well.

The second year, Varian had tried once again to find an assistant, even going so far as to do menial tasks for another inventor all day at the promise that they would help him in return. They hadn’t delivered.

By the third year, he’d learnt his lesson and prepared an experiment that could be run by only one person. This had ended up causing the experiment to be on a lot smaller of a scale than he would’ve liked, which ended up not even mattering in the end, after all the explosions were said and done.

This year he really felt he’d hit the jackpot with his automaton assistant. He’d been building small robots since he was 14, and had gotten quite good at it. He thought that this one would  _ definitely _ be good enough to help him secure first place.

And Varian wants to win, but even more than that...

She’s fourteen and knows a precious little about science, but she actually wants to spend time with him,  _ like no one else ever does _ and there is no way he can say no.

“ _ Of course _ we can be each other’s assistants!”

(Even though she insists on helping with his, they spend most of the time on hers, and his ends up being only mostly-completed. It explodes during his presentation, because why wouldn’t it, but both her invention and her presentation are golden, and she ends up winning the whole thing. 

She hugs him, and it’s even better than a first place ribbon.)

_ Varian: 50 points. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao varian would totally make an automaton to help present his project and yet not think of the automaton *being* his project, and you can fight me on that.
> 
> What was Varian's actual invention? You decide!


	3. Why Hello, Mysterious Black Rocks

Varian mentions the weird black rocks he saw near his village, and ends up showing them to Cassandra, Rapunzel, and Eugene. The princess’s hair starts glowing when she gets near them, and then the rocks start glowing as well, and it all just screams of  magic yet-to-be-understood science.

“The rocks are demonstrating an actual physical response! To you…”

“Shh! Varian, can you please keep this a secret?” she asks, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Keeping secrets has never gone well for Varian, and it’s something he tries to avoid.

“...Why?” 

“Because my dad has forbidden me from talking about these rocks to anyone. I… I don’t want to disappoint him.” She twists a finger in her hair, and won’t quite meet his eyes.

“We’ll figure this out,” Cassandra reassures the group. “We just don’t want to cause any unnecessary panic.”

“You can count on me,” he agrees. He hopes this won’t blow up in his face.

_ Varian: 55 points. _


	4. Don't Tell the Children What Is Going On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quirin and Varian go to court.

Varian hasn’t caused any truly bad alchemical incidents since he was 16, and somewhere during those two years of him managing to contain his own disasters, his dad had started to trust him more and more.

This causes Quirin, after Varian says he wants to study the rocks more to find a solution to Old Corona’s problem, to grant him permission to do so. Varian has more or less mellowed out in terms of egregious safety violations, so there shouldn’t be too much to worry about.

Varian spends days locked in his lab methodically trying to find a safe solution to the rocks. No answer is found.

Quirin takes Varian to court with him, but asks him to wait outside the throne room for him, which is  _ just insulting, really, how old does he think Varian is? _ Varian listens in anyway, his eyes getting wider and wider.

His dad has just lied to the king! Varian stands frozen until Quirin returns outside. 

The people of Old Corona have never liked Varian very much, nor he them, but they still deserve to have their issues heard by the king instead of some petty lie!

“Dad! None of that was true!” His voice breaks; he had really thought it would stop doing that by now. “Old Corona's being destroyed!”

“Old Corona will endure. You'll have to trust that I can handle this.” And there it is, what it always is. _Trust the real adults, Varian; you couldn’t possibly understand, you’re too_ _young_. 

“How? How can I trust anything when my own father just lied to the king's face?” The king should know what’s going on! Everyone should know what’s going on. Blind faith in authority is the absolute _ worst  _ decision.

The look Quirin gives him stops him in his tracks. “That is enough, Varian.”

“Yes, sir,” he sighs. Oh well. If his dad won’t figure this out, he’ll do it himself, with alchemy! He doesn’t  _ need  _ anyone else’s help.

Before he can follow after his dad, he hears footsteps coming close, and turns to see the princess walking up to him. “Hey, Varian!” she greets, “What are you doing in the castle?”

“Oh, um, hi, Princess; I just came with my dad to talk to the king.”

“Ooo, you’re so lucky! They won’t let me in the throne room when it’s time for court; they say I’m too young.” She looks at him like he has all the answers.

“Ah, no, Dad didn’t let me in either,” he mumbles. 

“Is everything okay?” she implores.

“Y-yes! Of course, everything is perfectly alright!” She doesn’t need to worry about the truth.

“Okay, well, did you want to do something together while you’re here?”   
  


“Sorry, Rapunzel, I can’t today. Dad and I are going back to Old Corona pretty soon.”

“Another time then?”

  
“Of course,” he assures. 

She smiles, and he tries to return it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Varian tries experimenting on the black rocks. No way that can go wrong, right?


	5. Amber Alert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian tries to figure out the black rocks.

Back in his lab, more rocks have sprung up in the time he’s been away. One particularly large rock has cut through his secondary workbench, cracking open bottles and leaving their contents in puddles on the floor. He grabs a towel and starts mopping up the mess, but some of the mixed chemical gets on his hand via a hole in his left glove and it starts to shake uncontrollably.

A large cluster of rocks in the middle of the room begin to grow even more, and he abandons cleaning up the mess to study them closer. The stone floor underneath him crumbles as he walks closer, and through the window he sees his dad blatantly lying to the people. He clenches steady hand and unsteady hand alike into fists.

His home is falling apart more and more with every passing day, and he and Dad are the luckiest in the village, in terms of rock damage. Old Corona will be in ruins soon.

He goes over and starts whipping up the next compound to try on the rocks. His right hand is shaking too, now.

He hears his dad walk inside, and soon Quirin comes to the doorway of his lab. 

“How is your research going, son?” he asks, not quite smiling.

“Oh, um, pretty well, Dad. Better than, y’know, just _running away from our problems_ , I’d think!” He’s trying to be bitter, but he’s failing, badly.

“Don’t take that tone with me, son. I did what had to be done.” His dad looks certain that he is speaking the truth. “There is more to these rocks than you can possibly imagine.”

“Then why won't you tell me? Dad! I just- I deserve to know.” He doesn’t want to beg, he _will not_ beg...

“You think you’re ready for the truth? Hmm,” he seems to actually be considering it! “You are an adult now, and you have proven yourself capable as of late… no,” he shakes his head. “No, this is not my secret to tell. I’m sorry, son.”

“I’ll-I’ll figure this out on my own then!” Varian declares, intending to do so right away, not bothering to wait for Quirin to leave. He tries to slowly pour his newest compound onto the rocks to see if it’ll make them disintegrate, but his hand is shaking even harder now, and he ends up pouring more than he meant to.

The compound turns yellow when it hits the rock, hardening into a kind of amber that grows and grows and Varian can only stare at it in awe as it expands even more, and then, just as it’s about to touch him, he’s pushed out of the way and falls to the floor. 

Scrambling to his feet, he sees his dad where he had been previously, the amber creeping up his arm. His dad tries to tug his arm away, and does not succeed.

Horrified, Varian rushes over to his workbench and grabs every bottle he has. “Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll get you out of this!”

“No, son, don’t! Get away!” Quirin tries to ward the teen off, to no avail. The amber creeps further, up to his shoulder.

Varian, shaking, sweating, _pleading_ , pours the chemicals one at a time onto the amber, but nothing works, and the amber _grows_ up and down a torso, and his hands shake harder and harder and _harder_ but he curls them tight and digs his nails into the vials he’s holding and keeps pouring, because they _are not allowed_ to betray him now. One chemical or another splashes onto Varian’s exposed arm, and he yells from pain, but the amber is at the knees now, so it does not deter him. The amber creeps down to Quirin’s feet, down his other arm, up his neck, up his _face_ , the room getting quieter as his struggles weaken, and Varian is now just dumping every combination of chemicals he can think of, but...

Nothing works.

Quirin stands encased in the amber, and the room is silent.

Varian drops to his knees just kneels there for a moment, helpless. Then, he climbs to his feet, goes over to his workbench, and takes out his notes on the black rocks. There, in bold and underlined, is written **_REACTED TO THE PRINCESS!_ **

Maybe she can do something about this? But what could she do? She’s 14, and doesn’t know anything more about this than he does! 

He’ll take any lead he can get.

A trip to Corona is in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time: A trip to and from Corona


	6. A Trip to and From Corona, That's It. That's the Chapter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What it says on the tin.

Varian bundles up, wincing as his coat rubs over the burn on his arm, and rushes out the door and into the storm. Packing supplies is unimportant. Pulling his goggles over his eyes, he runs off in the direction of the castle.

The wind whips at every exposed part of his skin, the cold tearing into his face. The snow is deep, and his boots make crunching sounds as he runs. He exits Old Corona.

The sun is high in the sky, but it provides no warmth. The snow glitters on the ground as more falls steadily to join it, and the thought that he’d usually like weather like this flashes in the back of his mind. 

The snow gets deeper and deeper and he  _ can  _ keep running,  _ he has to _ , but he’s never been athletic, and his lungs burn with the strain of the foreign activity. If he doesn’t run, he won’t be able to get help for his dad in time, so he has to keep running, but he simply  _ can’t _ , and he feels awful and pathetic because anyone else would be able to keep running but…

His lungs burn and he feels close to keeling over, but he walks as fast as he can, far too slowly.

The further he travels out into the farmlands, the more the wind picks up, and it tries to knock him over, but he does not let it. He notices for the first time that his boots are a little too loose. Snow ekes in from the outside and he can feel his socks dampen. Grimacing, he continues on.

He walks through a cave. His hands shake from the cold now as well, even from inside his gloves. He slides on ice, and pinwheels, and his heart pounds because  _ if he falls and hits his head who will help his dad, no one would even  _ **_know_ ** ,  _ so he has to be careful but he can’t be slow, and he’s far, far too slow, _ but he is able to himself on a wall and continue on. 

He sleds down a hill. He can’t feel his toes, and the snow comes down harder. 

He walks past farms and skates across frozen streams and climbs over hills and his whole body  _ trembles _ . The fields are eerily quiet this time of year, and he can hear nothing over the wind.

By the time he’s crossing the bridge to the capitol, he can nearly  _ taste _ the cold.

Upon arriving on the island, he takes up his jog again. He runs against the crowds of citizens trying to evacuate, runs through an abandoned shopping district, runs through the courtyard where they hold the science expo every year.

He makes it to the castle door.

He rushes inside, pushing past guards, servants, and the few other people who are in the castle. The squelch of his boots on the tile is unbearably loud as he sprints to the throne room, and he skids to a halt in there, keeling over with relief at finally having made it. Here he can get help for his dad!

There is no one there to help him. 

The large room is empty, save for him and the guards who have followed him in.

The guards step towards him slowly, as though approaching a wounded animal. He steps backwards, because they don’t look as non-threatening as they think they look.

“Where-where is ev-ev-everyone?” he asks, teeth chattering. “Wh-where is  _ Rap-Rapunzel _ ?”

“The princess is with her parents on a retreat in the mountains. This storm has grown to concerning levels, so Fitzherbert and Strongbow went after them.” They take another step closer to him; he takes another step backwards in turn.

“Who’s in- who’s in charge h-here then?” He knows they’re only giving him information to stall him, but he  _ needs _ to know what is going on and who he can talk to to get to Rapunzel.

“Their majesties left the Captain to guard the people. He and his daughter are out with the guard evacuating as many people as they can.” They step forward, and this time when he steps back, his back hits a wall.

“I-I have to-to talk to the pr-princess,” he pleads, and holds his hands out in front of him. Even if she isn’t here, maybe she’ll be back soon, and he can wait? 

They walk up to him with no remaining hesitancy, and he does his best to sink into the wall. “Pl-please! I need to-to talk to the princess! Or-or anyone,  _ please _ ! I-it’s an emergency!” 

“There is already an emergency,” they state. Their eyes soften a little as though they see something in his, and he dares  _ hope _ they’ll help them, but then a shout comes from outside, and they close off once more. “It is time for you to leave,” they assert, and they lift him up.

Their hands feel like manacles around his arms and he panics, lashing out with both elbows and legs. They begin to drag him out of the room. He digs his heels as best he can into the smooth floor, knowing, thinking, _hoping_ that maybe if he can get free he can- he can- he can do something! Something that isn’t just letting them pull him away from the one person who might be able to help him.

He feels like a child having to be hauled away after a tantrum, but he doesn’t care, he just wants them to  _ hear him, please, _ but… they don’t. They walk him to the main door and haul him out.

He falls into the snow, and scrambles to his feet. “Please!” he shouts, as the pair begin to walk away from him with urgency. “Tell the Princess I need to talk to-” Varian hears another shout from the distance the guards break into a run. He starts to make chase, but his legs give out and he falls to his knees. “-her.”

He stares at the giant doors for a full minute before getting up and walking away.

Well. If they won’t help him, then it’s up to him now to save his dad. The longer he waits, the worse the odds are for his dad, the more likely it is that he... Varian walks faster.

He walks through the streets of Corona. The people are panicking even more, trying to evacuate as quickly as possible. If he weren’t also in crisis, he’d stop to help them, but he doesn't lift his head enough to notice what is really going on, and he has bigger things swirling around his mind.

He crosses over the bridge, and slips on the ice forming there. He hits his chin, but gets up and traverses on. He vaguely regrets not putting on his snow gloves instead of his alchemy pair.

The bricks that are his feet push through country paths once more. He walks over hills and through valleys a second time, and the tremors wracking his body slowly become debilitating.

He finds his way through the cave again, and in the darkness finds himself lost. He rests for a moment in a hard, cold alcove, and considers if he can even continue on. It’s no question.

He makes it back to Old Corona, his form hunched and his steps barely shuffles. His fingers and toes are entirely numb.

He arrives back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Varian vs. Frostbite


	7. We Didn't Start the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian did, and it took this whole chapter.

Varian gets inside and pointedly does not go to his lab. 

Instead, he goes to the living room, where he eyes the pile of chopped firewood warily. He stumbles over to it and considers how he might move a log without the use of his fingers. Leaning over, swaying, he presses the palms of his hands on either side of a log, and raises his arms. As soon as he starts moving, the log falls out of his hands and drops back to the pile. He leans over again, and his numb toes upset his balance and send him to the floor. His head knocks against the cool stone, but failure is not an option, and he gets to his knees. He turns to the pile and once more gets his palms around the log. Lifting it up, he manages to get it to where it is cradled against his chest and shuffles on his knees over to the fireplace; there, he throws the log in.

He sighs, his head falling to his chest, and crawls back over to the logs to repeat the process. It takes four tries to get a second log onto the pile, and by his fifth try getting a third, his eyelids want to slide closed but are far too numb to do so, and it’s six more tries before he succeeds. He decides that three logs are probably enough.

Mercifully, they keep the flint, steel, and kindling right next to the fire so he does not have to move far to get it. He palms at some of the kindling until it falls onto the logs but the flint is… harder, to say the least. His fingers refuse to move how he commands them to, and it takes a solid minute to get his palms around the small flint. He lifts it up, but it’s tiny, and before he can get it anywhere it falls to the floor and breaks into two pieces. He grasps at it, trying to lift it up, but it’s not  _ working _ and he is just left clawing at the stone uselessly, faster and faster and  _ faster _ , but it’s not working,  _ he’s _ not working, and now his eyes are definitely tearing up.

It makes no logical sense, but it’s this, the futility of trying to pick up a small object with fingers that just  _ will not work _ , that finally breaks him, and tears run down his face and to the floor. His dad is still stuck in the amber, and he breaks out into big hiccuping sobs and claws at the flint faster, scratches his nails on the floor, his vision blurring. He can hardly see anymore, and he can’t save his dad if he can’t do this, and he can do this, he can,  _ he can _ ,  **_he can_ ** _ ,  _ he can breathe; he just has to get the air around the lump in his throat. But he can’t. He can’t see around the blur in his vision, can’t hear over the ringing in his ears, can’t do  _ anything right _ , but he can still feel, so he scrapes his hands against the floor even faster and tries ever more desperately to just _ breathe _ . 

Right when his frantic motions begin to seem overwhelmingly pointless, the kinetic energy puts just enough warmth back into his fingers to wrap them around the flint. Holding it as tightly as he can, he picks it up and strikes it against the steel again and again. And again and again and again...

Varian does not remember when the fire eventually starts, but it does, and soon he is holding his fingers and toes in front of a warm fire, feeling nothing in the digits still, but watching as they blister in the heat. Varian will not remember how long he sits there before eventually falling asleep on the stone in front of the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Now that he (probably) won't die from the cold, Varian is ready to get to work trying to free his dad! There has to be some sort of alchemical reaction that will work, right?


End file.
